


Ladies Week Day 1: Pike Trickfoot

by mariekjepower



Series: Critical Role Ladies Week 2017 [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 11:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10718934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariekjepower/pseuds/mariekjepower
Summary: Episode 94 Spoilers - Pike walks into Whitestone for the first time and reflects on how she feels while Vox Machina is away.





	Ladies Week Day 1: Pike Trickfoot

**Author's Note:**

> First time of tipping my toes in writing anything Critical Role related. And the first time of writing anything fanfic related in about a year?
> 
> Ladies Week felt like the perfect place to start!

Whitestone. 

It’s weird. Never before has Pike walked into Whitestone like this. She’s been here, yes. She spent a lot of her time here ever since the Chroma Conclave attacked. But the first time she was here, she wasn’t really there, just a projection. And when she finally did go to Whitestone, it was through a tree. Being able to teleport is really helpful, but it takes something away. You miss the experience of walking up to a town for the first time. You don’t know the roads leading to a place, your first impression is… well, weird. 

Now she reaches the town in the way most people do. She sees the wall and even though she knows the place behind the walls quite well, it still feels a bit like visiting a place for the first time. 

At the same time she’s impatient. She quickens her pace and puts a hand on her ear.

“Guys?”

 

They’re not here. Of course Pike knew that was possible. Probable, even. They travel so easily these days, moving from one side of the world to another within seconds. And the world is so big, they could be anywhere. Zephra? Vasselheim? Ank’Harel? Are they even on Exandria, or on a completely different plane? 

Pike worries. Pike misses them. Pike is even a bit jealous. 

She worries that she loses one of them while she’s not there, and that she can’t get there to help them. She worries that she might even lose most or all of them. Vox Machina is bad at planning and worse with sticking to plans, if that is even possible. And what if they don’t come back from whatever trouble they’ve gotten themselves into this time? How could Pike ever get them back to her?

She misses them so, so much. She misses the silliness, the laughter, the time together. Just hanging out in a bar, or in Castle Whitestone, or even back in Greyskull Keep. She misses Vox Machina, each and every one of them, even Scanlan. She misses going new places with them and returning home with them. 

She is jealous of their travels without her. She knows her place is not always the place she wants to be. She is a Cleric of Sarenrea and she helps people where they need her the most. Sometimes it is building a temple in a place where people of Sarenrea are few and far between; sometimes it is helping a community that has been suppressed by vampires and necromancers for half a decade. Other times it is helping rebuilding a city from the ground up after it was destroyed by dragons. And sometimes it is with Vox Machina. But while she is busy doing other things, they still go places. They see new sights, they meet new people, they adventure. But most of all, they are together. And Pike wants to be with them.

 

Pike lifts up another crate, high above her and it’s lifted out of her hands by a guy in the cart. It’s simple work. No hard thinking, no life or death situation if she places her foot wrong, her armor can be loud and no one complains. It’s good and it’s boring at the same time. Most of the people around her look at her weird, first like she was a little helpless girl and they couldn’t understand why she was with them and now like they can’t believe their eyes as she picks up heavy things like they’re nothing. 

It’s not all bad, though. Salda Taldorei is a very sweet woman and seeing her kids and the Aasimar boys, Hunin and Kyor, running around and playing games is good to see. Pike’s glad that the former Empress will take in the boys. Vox Machina is not equipped to take care of kids and putting more stress on Cassandra, who is barely older than them herself, is unfair. Salda is kind and wise and much more capable of giving the boys the guiding hand they need. And Salda having something positive to focus on after everything that happened… Well, in Pike’s opinion, it’s a win-win on all sides. 

As she looks up from picking up another crate she sees them. She does a quick count. Five and Tary. They’re all alive. Another glance over them shows them worse for wear. New bruises and cuts, tired. Keyleth has a new mantle, but there is already blood on it. They don’t seem to be bothered by it and neither do the people of Whitestone. They’re getting used to Vox Machina looking like shit when they turn up. 

Pike watches as they talk with Salda for a moment before walking off in the direction of their favorite tavern here in Whitestone. Handing over the crate she was holding (and hearing a bit of a groan from the guy she hands it to), she starts running in their direction. She’s in armor, so subtlety is nowhere to be found and Vox Machina looks over their shoulders, their faces breaking in to grins as they see her. Pike feels herself grin in return.

“Hey! Hey, you’re just gonna walk by?!”


End file.
